Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter sure hopes so, making a third return from injury this season and participating in his first team practice at TRIA Rink on Wednesday.

Niederreiter has missed a total of 19 games this season — second-most to Zach Parise — with a nagging ankle injury that won’t seem to go away. He missed six games from Oct. 14-28 and missed another five from Dec. 23-Jan. 2. He has missed the past eight games with a bone bruise on the same left ankle that’s been plaguing him all season.

The 25-year-old forward admits it’s possible that he came back too soon the second time around, but wanted to “man up and play through it” while he wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Despite scoring a hat trick in his return against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 4, the pain became unbearable, forcing his recent sidelining.

“Obviously, it’s been a while since the first injury happened and I wanted to get...